Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-05-02
Cardinal Manning on knights Of LabOr.

OdFulHal AHaBH8BS On hDf-ttts 81 IdDOFs
The following lstter Of Cardinal Man
ming on the relation of the Knights of
Labor to the church appeared 10 Satur-
days edition of the Catholic Tablet.
''Some perplexity may arise from the
fact that the Knights Of Labor were
condemned and deprived of the sacra-
ments by the Archbishops and bishops
of Canada. but now have been recog-
Dized and restored on the petition of
ten out of twelve of tae Archbishops,
and with some exceptions of the bishops
of the United States. by the Holy See.
The solution of this apparent diversity
is ready at hand. In its first formation
the Association of the Knights of Labor
had more or less the marks of a
secret society, aud as such fell reason
ably under the Oensure of the Bishops
of Canada. Since that time the Presi-
dent of the Knights of Lsbor has been
changed. He Is, as Cardinal Gibbons
attests, faithful Catholic, and the
orga nization has undergone revision in
all those points which exposed it to
censure. Cardinal Gibbons affirms:
% That in its constitution and laws
there is nothing which is condemned
by the Holy See; (2) that there is no
oath; (3) that there is no obligation to
secrecy towards competent ecclesiasti-
cal authority, even outside the con-
fessional; az that there is no promise
of blind obedience, and no obligation
beyond the distinctly declared objects
of the association; and finally that there
is no hostility either against the Church
or against the State.
To this must be added that very
large proportion of the Knights of La
Dor are faithful, practicing Catholics.
1t is upon these grounds that the
censure passed upon it in its old and
censurable form has been withdrawn
The Cardinal of Baltimore in his letter
to Cardinal Simeoni urges with great
force and wisdom, the sity which
bids the Catholic church not only to
be mother but friend and guide to
the millions who live by the labor of
their hands.
As a whole, the text of this weighty
document is we'll known. We will
therefore go on to justify the principles
upon which it is founded and in doing
SO we will consider what are the Knights
of Labor and what are the rights of
lawful organization. In the canon law
slavery is defined as state sanctioned
by the law of nations but contrary to
the law of nature. Much confusion
has existed upon this point. By the
law of nature no man can be
sold and no man can sell himself
and no man can buy man nor hold
property in man. Slavery under the
Jewish law consisted in the sale and
purchase of the labor of man, not of
man himself, and whatever the law
of nations in Christendom may
have held and taught, Christian law
has never sanctioned a violation of the
natural law that man cannot hold prop
erty in man. Slavery under the Roman
Empire was violation of the law of
nature. Serfdom in Christendom was
founded upon Christian and canon law.
Neither slavery nor serfdom exists any
longer.
In the English speaking peoples
world-that is, in the new world which
seems to be the molding of our future
working man is free man both in his
person and in the labor of his hand.
The mere muscular labor of his arm is
his own to sell as he wills to whomso-
ever be wills, wherever and for what
soever time he wills, and at whatsoever
| price he can. If his labor be skilled
labor, or even half skilled labor
it IS the more valuable and abso-
lutely his own possession. 1t, in truth,
is the most precious form of capital
which gold and silver may purchase, but
on which gold and silver absolutely de
pend. Money is but dead capital after
all, but the live capital of human intelli-
gence and the human hand is the prim-
eval and vital capital of the world. In